Popular SuperHeroes

One side, super heroes This is a job only we can handle! So says the team of Canadian heroes on the front cover of Alpha Flight #1 (August 1983). A spin-off from the ultra-popular X-Men series where the characters had first appeared, the members of Alpha Flight were the creation of writer/artist John Byrne. They were also the first non-American superteam to garner their own title at Marvel Comics.

It's not easy being Superman's pal. For Jimmy Olsen, his friendship with Metropolis' Man of Steel has led to frequent mutations and imperilments. But let's not overlook the fringe benefits: celebrity status, occasional superpowers, lots of dates, and a bulletproof bodyguard. Not bad for a freckle-faced, red-haired, all-American kid.

Among the many things gripping the imaginations of children in the late 1950s were the emerging superheroes of the Silver Age of comics (1956–1969) and the beginnings of the space race. DC Comics decided to combine those two interests by launching a pair of space heroes in its tryout comic book Showcase. The first to appear was the futuristic spaceman, Space Ranger, while the second (who premiered in Showcase #17 in late 1958) was Adam Strange, overseen by longtime science fiction fan and editor Julius Schwartz. His first choice as artist was Carmine Infantino, but, as Infantino was currently entertaining the troops in Korea, Mike Sekowsky was drafted in for the three Showcase issues. When these proved popular, Strange moved over to the Mystery in Space comic, where he enjoyed a run of fifty issues, most of them drawn by Infantino and written by the prolific Gardner Fox.

Erotica Jones is an exotic dancer by night, crime fighter by later night. With a heart of gold, a passion for animal rights, and a weakness for fashion, according to the plug she received on Spike TV's website, when she's not busy pole dancing Jones lends a helping hand and sympathetic ear to the other dancers at the Tender Loins strip club. When her belly ring vibrates, Erotica jumps into action as superhero/secret agent Stripperella.